Remarks on the sedimentary formations of New South Wales : illustrated by references to other provinces of Australasia / by W.B. Clarke.

  • William Branwhite Clarke
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the sedimentary formations of New South Wales : illustrated by references to other provinces of Australasia / by W.B. Clarke. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    “We confine ourselves to the statement that we have not before us a particle of evidence indicating that the Coal-seams now being worked in New South W ales are of Palaeozoic age.” A great com- pliment this to persons who have laboured for years to establish truth ; but they may console themselves with the reflection, that “ Prejuqer est maljuger.” Amidst this lamentable ingenuity to “tell the truth without telling the xvhole truth and nothing but the truth,” and in the arraying of evidence from beyond Austra- lia instead of collecting the whole evidence furnished from itself, there is one grateful exception which, though not entirely satis- factory, is much more so than some previous proceedings wrere. It would have been better to have acknowledged that old opinions had been re-called. In the notes on Mr. Keene’s specimens, Professor M'Coy, though he draws a line where it ought not to be, has changed his method of putting his old opinions about the Coal itself, inasmuch as he no longer makes use of the notion which he once enter- tained and put in evidence before a Committee of the Melbourne Parliament. I must explain this : On the 20th November, 1S57, he was examined fas the Chairman of a Mining Commission) on the Character and Extent of Coal in Victoria, and he asserted over and over again that no Palaeozoic coal existed in Australia. The following answers speak to that point :■— “722. (Answer). The members of the Mining Commission have an impres- sion that, as tlie Coal deposits to be expected there [Cape Paterson] geologi- cally are not the same as those of the great Coal-fields of England, but are of similar character with the Coal-deposits of New South Wales and Tasmania, therefore it is unlikely that they will he of commercial value ; and as scientific men they would not on their own responsibility, recommend the expenditure of public money there. 727- (Q.) Considering that the information [? formation] of the Cape Paterson Coal-fields is similar to those of New South Wales and Tasmania, you are of opinion that as aii economic question you would advise no further prosecution of any surveys in that locality ? (A.) That is my opinion. 744. (Q.) You would not advise the prosecution of any further inquiries for the discovery of Coal? (A.) No recommendation to that effect would emanate from myself or the Commission. 747. Such Coal-fields [he., those of Palaeozoic age],do not exist in this country [he. in Australia]. That is a point which I wish clearly to show, and I think it is one which has never been clearly shown to this Committee before. 758. I know you are not to expect the old Palaeozoic Coal-fields in this part of the world. 759. (Q,.) Do you contend that the Mesozoic Coal-fields are not suitable for the different purposes of commerce ? (A.) They are not so suitable as the Palaeozoic, they are not so extensive, the beds are not so thick or workable, nor is the quality so good over any workable area. 767. (Q.) If a Coal-field at Cape Paterson was discovered equally good with the Sydney Coal-fields, would you consider it worth working ? (A.) My in- dividual opinion is that it would, not be worth xoorking. 771. [Of Cape Paterson] (A.) Of course the Members of the Mining Com- mission do not wish to attach any scientific weight to their evidence in a commercial point of view, they merely choose to say, that as men of science,
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